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Posted by Phat Bytestard on 07/27/06 02:07
On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 07:21:17 -0700, WinField <doghouse@operamail.com>
Gave us:
>A walk down memory lane. Nice.
>
>Phat Bytestard wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 08:23:18 -0700, WinField <doghouse@operamail.com>
>> Gave us:
>
>>>Cassette format was a small marvel reel-to-reel.
>>
>>
>> It may have actually had roots in data storage. I have (had)
>> several cassette format data storage tapes that worked in a rat shack
>> "computer". Even though a consumer product, it was perfect for data
>> as well at the time.
>>
>>
>>>8-track was a gangly, LOOP-y format campared to the cassette. It was a DOG!
>>
>>
>> It was big. The ONLY "advantage" (if one wants to call it that) it
>> had was a slightly quicker traverse across the tracks of an album, and
>> no turning the tape over (pre-auto-reverse).
>
>I used to have an RCA cassette that was twice the size of an 8-track.
>The tape machine itself that played this "compact" format was the size
>of a small reel-to-reel. Needless to say, this design for home use by
>RCA never went anywhere.
>
>
>>
>>>Almost 105 billion people knew how to re_align the 8-track heads, though
>>>no one could get it perfect.
>>
>>
>> 105 billion eh?
>>
>> Not true. Mine were perfect, and I even had a test/cal tape.
>
>Which still wouldn't match those few 8-track tapes that always were
>out-of-wack. At least you could hear a preview of what was ahead during
>song endings/beginnings. Having playback heads that moved up and down
>just wasn't the best idea.
>
>>
>>>With hi-performance tape formulations, the cassette made 8-track look
>>>like a SICK PUPPY.
>>
>>
>> That was because manufacturers had already rang the death knell bell
>> for 8-track. It could have kept up just fine. The problem with
>> 8-track was that the inner loops would tighten up. With a slightly
>> better design, they could have fixed it, but it had already taken a
>> dump at the consumer level.
>
>Sure. Given enough support and good production/design quality almost
>any system will provide satisfactory use.
>
>These kind of resources were poured into the cassette format to lift it
>out of being just a limited frequency "voice recorder" to a pretty
>decent music format.
>
>It was during this time I believe, that a small company came into
>existence. Because of the narrower tape used in cassettes,
>signal-to-noise ratio was a problem. (hiss) A tech I worked with used
>to live in England. He passed up an oppertunity to join a small firm
>working on the hiss solution.
>
>I doubt anyone remembers ... Dolby Labs.
I still have a BIC dual speed recording deck in mint condition.
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